Red Rock Bicycle teams with Switchpoint to help end cycles of homelessness

Fall Tour de St. George, St. George, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of Red Rock Bicycle, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Participants in this fall’s biannual “Tour de St. George” will not only be able to take in the epic sights on offer in the Southern Utah bicycle tour but will also be helping to fight homelessness.

Fall Tour de St. George, St. George, Utah, date not specified | Photo courtesy of Red Rock Bicycle, St. George News

Red Rock Bicycle Co. and Switchpoint Community Resource Center have teamed up for the second year in a row to raise money for the center with the October 2017 Fall Tour de St. George acting in part as a fundraiser.

The tour is themed “Breaking the Cycles of Homelessness,” and organizers have set a goal to raise $30,000, a substantial increase from last year’s $17,000.

“Not only will you ride in good temps, not only will you get to ride with friends, not only will the Tour be a great way to finish out your season, not only will you do something good for yourself, but you will also get to do something good for people in our community,” reads a preview on the tour website.

Switchpoint acts as more than a simple overnight shelter. It also includes a food pantry and thrift store, provides assistance with applications for government benefits, helps with employment search, transportation vouchers and offers a daycare for dogs.

“The athletes that participated in this great event helped 695 individuals in Washington County obtain food, shelter, GEDs, replace identification documents, receive bus passes to get back and forth to work, and helped individuals with rental deposits so that they could move into their own apartment and become self-sufficient,” Carol Hollowell, Switchpoint executive director, said in reference to the 2016 tour.

This file photo shows the food pantry at Switchpoint Community Resource Center, St. George, Utah, Aug. 12, 2015 | Photo by Jessica Tempfer, St. George News

Some of Switchpoint’s major accomplishments were listed in a news release:

“Switchpoint’s motto is ‘It Takes All of Us’ to end homelessness and it’s really true,” Hollowell said in the news release. “Someone who is entrenched in poverty and homelessness is just struggling to get by one day at a time. It’s not just Switchpoint’s job to help lift and support them as they work to get back on their feet – it takes the entire community to help stabilize them.”

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joseph Witham is a Utah Valley University graduate with a bachelor's degree in communication. He loves the Utah outdoors scene and is likely to be found camping or hiking in any one of the state's epic landscapes on a given weekend. He is equally passionate about writing and was published in various news media, including the Daily Herald in Utah County, before joining St. George News.